Preaching Helps

Sermon Planning Tools

It is the time of year when I finalize sermon planning for the upcoming year. If you are a pastor, I encourage you to do the same. There is great benefit to be found in laying out your sermons for the upcoming year, or at least the next three to six months. For instance, at …

Read more

How to Listen to A Sermon Without Dying

Have you ever caught a great nap during a sermon? You aren’t alone. In Acts 20:7-12 the Bible tells the story of a young man named Eutychus who was sleeping so hard during one of Paul’s sermons that he fell out of a window and died (don’t worry, Paul raised him from the dead). Hopefully …

Read more

You Preached a Bad Sermon. Now What?

I preached a bad sermon. I don’t really know what went wrong. I put in the work, the prayer, the preparation. I had the notes. I was eager to preach. Everything seemed fine until the moment the words started falling out of my mouth. And, almost immediately, I knew it was not good. If you …

Read more

Pastor, This Easter, Preach Like Jesus

Most of you read the title and thought, ” Yeah, I wish.” I know, none of us will preach as well as Jesus this Sunday or any other Sunday. It isn’t even the goal of a preacher to preach as well as Jesus, but to point toward Jesus. However, you should have it as a …

Read more

Preach The Difficult Sermon

Is A the most famous chord on the guitar? Probably not. I doubt there is a “most famous chord,” and yet, in the hands of one man in a particular setting, nothing can bring a crowd to life like an A chord. I’m learning the guitar, so when I play an A chord, it is …

Read more

Preach Christ

Jesus is enough to carry and sustain the worn-out souls of your hearers. They come to the altar of God’s word week in and week out to be refreshed and encouraged. You have been given the gift of preaching for the edifying—the building up—of your local church. They come in beat-down and tired. The worries of financial strife, the struggles of wayward children, the back-biting of a secular workplace, and the thorns and thistles of sinful creation all work in a sort of unholy symphony to burden God’s image-bearers. Given the opportunity, this unholy symphony will actually drown out the siren call of Calvary.

Preach With Your Voice

The medium is the message. No one wants to hear you stand up and give a Billy Graham impression. You’re not Billy Graham. But, you can preach God’s word. He has called you and gifted you. He’s set you apart for this sacred task. You don’t have to be anyone else, just be you, the man that God has called. Trust that he knew what he was doing when he gave you this task, and go preach his word with your voice.

Preach With Tenderness

We must preach with the broken in mind. There are prideful men and women in every congregation that need to hear the stinging words of rebuke directed toward Pharisees, but there are also men who have been destroyed by demons and women who have been abused by men. Jesus met a woman by a well in Samaria. She was an outcast who bounced from house to house. We don’t know her whole story, but it is possible that in our day and time she might be known by a different term: abuse survivoror even trafficking victim. We know is that as Jesus looked at this woman, he saw something different than everyone else who looked at her. Jesus saw her as a broken person in need of a savior. He didn’t paper over her sin as though it didn’t exist, but he didn’t discount her struggles and pain either. Jesus was honest and forthright, but he was compassionate and kind. He preached the gospel to her with tenderness and compassion. The Shepherd of Israel found a wayward sheep and lovingly brought her into the fold.

Why Does Sermon Prep Take So Long?

If any of you believe that God has put you on on the planet to keep me humble, just know that you have to compete with my children. Here are a few examples from the past: Yeah, but you’re not like a “real” doctor. Why is your tummy squishy? Daddy, why is your beard so …

Read more

The Shepherd Leader

What is a Pastor? In 1 Peter 5, the apostle Peter shows us that a pastor is a shepherd leader who eagerly and willingly loves and cares for the flock of God under his care.